Namesake
by HeyItsMJ
Summary: It was tradition in the Fire Nation to be named for ancestors, powerful people of your family who had shaped your future in their past. And now they had another daughter. And the Firelord and his wife had run out of ideas.


**Please don't kill me :)**

**This was mostly inspired by the musical _Wicked_ (so I've been listening to the soundtrack for an hour, shut up). One of the lines that really intrigues me is "Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?"**

**Because really, it can be applied to so many people, not only in the Avatarverse. Think about it; when Hitler was about eight, he wanted to a painter. No explanation needed.**

**So maybe there was a time when Azula was a little girl, too.**

* * *

It was tradition in the Fire Nation to be named for ancestors, powerful people of your family who had shaped your future in their past. To be named for the dead meant you would carry on their legacy; to be named for loved ones meant you were equally as special as they were. It was a great honor to be passed down the family name.

For this, their first daughter was called Ursa. Named for her grandmother, the gentle, loving, strong woman Zuko had known. And as the girl grew older, she did resemble her namesake in these ways.

Their son, with Mai's clever thinking, became Roh Ten. When they had first introduced the baby to his Great-Uncle, the old general, upon hearing the name, cried and gently pressed the boy's first Pai Sho piece into his tiny hand.

And now they had a third child, another daughter. And the Firelord and his wife had run out of ideas.

"What about your brother?" Zuko asked, pacing around the nursery. Mai rolled her eyes.

"Zuko, it's a _girl_. We're just begging the kid to grow up and hate us if we give her a name like _Tom-Tom_."

"Well, _sorry!_ I can't come up with all the world's great plans all the time, you know!" he snapped dryly.

Mai rocked the infant in her arms. "Well I would help if you hadn't completely turned down all my names!"

"Forget it; no way will I have another Ty Lee running around the palace. It was bad enough I had to grow up with the _real_ one."

"We could turn to other cultures," Mai mused. She examined the black-haired girl. "Does she look like much of a Katara or Toph?" Zuko leaned over her shoulder.

"Nah. Besides, while Katara will be forever mushy around us, Toph will only let it go to her head."

She heaved a sigh, smoothing down her hair with one hand. "Aang and Katara have it easy. They have thousands of Air Nomad names to work with."

"Yeah." Zuko smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry all my dead relatives had to be such jerks, or we wouldn't have this problem."

Mai smiled back. "Sorry all _my_ dead relatives had to have such awful names."

"I know! Who besides your parents would name a kid Tom-Tom?" It got a laugh out of her, and the jostling aroused the baby.

Mai noticed her mistake when the little golden eyes peeked out at her. "Oooh," she hissed. "Sorry, sweetie."

The girl didn't seem to mind. She looked at her mother with a bright gaze, lazily curling her fingers in the air. While Ursa and Roh Ten had been noisy criers, this daughter seemed peaceful and content.

"Azula." Zuko didn't know why that thought had come to him, but somehow, it sounded right. "We should name her Azula."

Mai whipped around, eyes narrowed in surprise. "Okay, now I _know_ you're kidding." When his expression didn't change, she hugged the baby protectively. "Zuko, are you insane? Why on Earth would we want our daughter to grow up like Azula? Even worse, _she_ was named for Firelord Azulon, who was considered almost crueler than Sozin!"

"That's the point," he said softly. Gently, he took the infant into his arms, smiling down at her calm face. "I don't want her to grow up like Azula. I remember my sister when she was little, Mai. No one is born evil; you have to be raised that way. I was close to my mother, so I wasn't like the others in the line of Firelords. Azula was close to my father. But now we have a new life, a beautiful new baby girl. We can raise her how we want, Mai. She won't grow up like my sister; she'll grow up like my sister should have."

He heard a soft sigh and felt Mai's arms wrap around him. "It actually doesn't sound too bad," she admitted. "You're a good father, Zuko. And Ursa and Roh Ten will love her."

He kissed her forehead. "Don't forget yourself. You're a good mother."

They both turned to their daughter, the new Princess Azula, who had Mai's ebony hair and Zuko's nose, and brilliant, innocent gold eyes that were all her own.


End file.
